Springfield's Victorian twilight tour

Michael BeswickThe home of Gary Yuschalik and Larkin Mayo at 1135 Worthington St. Springfield

Springfield Preservation Trust’s annual fall benefit will take the form of a “twilight tour” of six homes in the historic McKnight neighborhood decorated with period décor and furnishings on Oct. 23 from 4 to 7 p.m.

“The McKnight neighborhood is the largest, most complete, wood-frame late 19th century neighborhood in New England,” said the trust’s Robert McCarroll.

The trust has been offering historic house tours for at least 30 years, and McKnight has been featured many times.

McCarroll said while most of the tours are offered in the afternoon, from 1 to 4 p.m., fall is a nice time to offer a twilight tour.

“We invite homeowners to have either candles going or some lights on because it gives you a very different perspective than when you’re going through in the daytime,” he said.

The construction of the McKnight neighborhood began in the 1870s, and took about 30 years to complete. It was Springfield’s first “streetcar suburb,” meaning people didn’t live within walking distance of downtown and had to use horse-drawn trolleys or carriages for transportation. It is named after two brothers, William and John McKnight, who made it into what is considered the first totally planned residential area of size in the region.

According to the city’s web site, it is “located one mile from the Central Business District and is one of the smallest of the city’s 17 neighborhoods. It contains 306 acres of land, plus streets and railroads.”

“It was one of the places where the upper-middle class started building their homes, and this tour will feature some of the large homes in the neighborhood,” McCarroll said.

The neighborhood features homes that have gone through many renovations, from group homes and multi-family homes back to single family residences, as well as homes that have had only a handful of owners over the years and who have kept the homes meticulous.

“This is for people who really like Victorian architecture,” McCarroll said. “It really is a neighborhood that will take you back 130 years, in terms of architecture.”

Homeowners Gary Yuschalk and Larkin Mayo are opening up their home on Worthington Street for the event. The house was built in 1887.

“The thing that fascinated us about the home was that it was certainly very stylish and very modern, and 120 some-odd years later, the interior is virtually intact,” Yuschalk said. “It has all the original hardware, inlay floors, doors, all the original stained glass windows — virtually everything is here.”

Yuschalk, who purchased the house last fall with Mayo after the pair ran an historic house museum in Kansas for 10 years, has extensive experience with Victorian homes. He and Mayo own a business called Victorian Interiors, and most of the furnishings from the house museum came with them to Springfield.

“We have an extensive collection of high-end Victorian American furnishings, and the wall coverings are all (from that) period or reproductions of originals,” he said.

Yuschalk said he and Mayo have restored about half of the home’s rooms since they moved in last year.

“Most of the main rooms downstairs have been restored and the upper rooms are being worked on,” he said. “The ones not completely restored will likely be decorated for Halloween.”

Yuschalk said the home is in great condition, especially considering its age.

“The house has never had the opportunity to fall into decay, which is truly remarkable,” he said.

Yuschalk said they are participating in the tour to help bring awareness about these historic homes and show people what life was like in the city in the 19th century.

“It virtually is homes within a park,” he said. “It’s unique the way the McKnight brothers built this neighborhood.”

And he said visitors can get a sense of how involved people were with the décor of their homes back then.

“Americans were quite passionate with how they decorated the interior,” he said.

“Wallpaper on the walls was a new fad, and they had elaborate draperies on the windows.”

McCarroll said the tours function as fund-raisers for the trust, but the trust also hopes they serve as an educational tool as well.

“It’s an opportunity to expose people to the great older neighborhoods that Springfield does have,” he said. “A lot of people only know what they see from (Interstate) 91 or 291, or what they read about in the paper.”

Tickets to the McKnight Twilight Tour are $15 in advance and $20 if purchased on the day of the event. Tickets can be purchased in advance in Springfield at Flowers, Flowers, 758 Sumner Ave., and The Flower Box, 596 Carew St. On the day of the event, tickets can be purchased from 3:45 to 5:30 p.m. on Ingersoll Grove, just off Worthington Street. Participants will be given a map to all the homes, which are within easy walking distance.